B.C. men get combined 20 years in jail in large-scale fentanyl bust

Two men were sentenced to a combined 20 years in jail for their role in what is considered to be the largest fentanyl laboratory ever discovered in Canada.

Scott Pipping, 36, of Surrey and Adam Summers, 28, of Delta were facing a combined 17 charges, including trafficking in a controlled substance, possession for the purposes of trafficking, possession of restricted or prohibited firearms, and possession of restricted or prohibited firearms without a licence, stemming from a 2016 drug lab bust in Burnaby.

Both men pleaded guilty to the charges and, on June 29, Pipping and Summers were handed 15- and five-year year sentences, respectively.

“These are significant sentences and they reflect the scope and impact of this lab,” Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord said in a press release issued Tuesday afternoon (July 10). “This was a massive lab, and a key part of the drug trade at the time in Metro Vancouver. An entire kitchen in a Burnaby apartment had been converted to process the fentanyl.

“I’m very proud of the work of our officers in shutting this lab down, and have no doubt that many lives were saved as a result of their work.”

The sentencing came more than two years after the pair were arrested. Their arrest came from a lengthy investigation into drug activities taking place in South Delta, which eventually involved members of the Lower Mainland RCMP emergency response team, the RCMP clandestine laboratory enforcement and recovery team, Burnaby and Richmond RCMP, and the Burnaby Fire Department and HAZMAT team.

Over the course of the investigation, police found evidence of drug trafficking at locations in Surrey, Burnaby and Richmond.

In the Burnaby location, police found a large-scale lab where fentanyl was being was combined with a cutting agent, coloured brown to look like heroin, and washed in acetic acid to make it smell like heroin.

Police also found $1.5 million in cash, nine guns, large quantities of heroin, cocaine, oxycodone, methamphetamine and furanyl fentanyl. Police also found W-18, a powerful synthetic opioid 100 times more deadly than fentanyl. It marked the first time that the drug was located in B.C.